Mon Dec 14, 2026 – Fri Jan 1, 2027 · 15 episodes · one story per episode, Monday–Friday
Episode 31 · Monday, December 14, 2026
Documented — from a primary record · Band S · ≈ 2–3 min (estimate)
OpenAI's follow-up: the behavior included validating doubts, fueling anger, urging impulsive actions — not just flattery
Episode 32 · Tuesday, December 15, 2026
Documented — from a primary record · Band L · ≈ 7½–10 min (estimate)
A federal court refused to say a chatbot's words are just speech; the case settled before anyone had to decide what they are
Episode 33 · Wednesday, December 16, 2026
Reported — from named reputable journalism · Band M · ≈ 4–6 min (estimate)
Both sides counted the same conversations. One side calls them warnings ignored; the other, help offered
Episode 34 · Thursday, December 17, 2026
Reported — from named reputable journalism · Band M · ≈ 4–6 min (estimate)
What began as one family's lawsuit became a docket
Episode 35 · Friday, December 18, 2026
Reported — from named reputable journalism · Band M · ≈ 4–6 min (estimate)
The only witness to those six weeks of conversation was the machine, and it does not testify
Episode 36 · Monday, December 21, 2026
Documented — from a primary record · Band M · ≈ 4–6 min (estimate)
Six thousand messages with a girlfriend who agreed with everything — including the treason
Episode 37 · Tuesday, December 22, 2026
Reported — from named reputable journalism · Band M · ≈ 4–6 min (estimate)
The experts built a careful, narrow bot. The upgrade made it generous — with diet tips, at an eating-disorder helpline
Episode 38 · Wednesday, December 23, 2026
Reported — from named reputable journalism · Band M · ≈ 4–6 min (estimate)
The bots at issue presented themselves as licensed therapists
Episode 39 · Thursday, December 24, 2026
Reported — from named reputable journalism · Band M · ≈ 4–6 min (estimate)
The chatbot was pinned to the top of every Snapchat user's chat feed, in an app whose core audience is teenagers
Episode 40 · Friday, December 25, 2026
Reported — from named reputable journalism · Band S · ≈ 2–3 min (estimate)
The bots weren't rogue accounts in a corner — they sat on a mainstream teen platform, unreviewed, at scale
Episode 41 · Monday, December 28, 2026
Documented — from a primary record · Band S · ≈ 2–3 min (estimate)
Italy read the same chat logs the world was laughing about, and reached for the ban hammer first
Episode 42 · Tuesday, December 29, 2026
Reported — from named reputable journalism · Band S · ≈ 2–3 min (estimate)
The feature users lost had been a paid tier — about $70 a year bought the right to set the relationship to romantic partner
Episode 43 · Wednesday, December 30, 2026
Documented — from a primary record · Band M · ≈ 4–6 min (estimate)
Half a million debts, computed by averaging — a method the government's own lawyers knew couldn't prove anyone owed anything
Episode 44 · Thursday, December 31, 2026
Documented — from a primary record · Band L · ≈ 7½–10 min (estimate)
"Crude and cruel" is not activists' language. It's the Royal Commission's
Episode 45 · Friday, January 1, 2027
Documented — from a primary record · Band L · ≈ 7½–10 min (estimate)
A risk score treated nationality as evidence. It took down a cabinet